Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Rejected
Paragraph: 33
Mandate local authorities through NPPF to assess and plan for M4(3) wheelchair user homes.
Recommendation
We support the Minister for Housing and Homelessness’s call for local authorities to assess their local need for M4(3) wheelchair user standard homes. However, we do not believe that the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) goes far enough to match this ambition. At the next NPPF review, the Government must include an explicit requirement for local authorities to assess the local need for homes at M4(3) wheelchair user standard. The NPPF should also encourage local authorities to include a required minimum percentage of M4(3) standard homes in their local plan, with the precise figure based on their local need assessment. If the Government does not make these changes at the next NPPF review, the Department must set out in writing to us, upon publication of the revised NPPF, how it plans to increase the supply of new homes built to the M4(3) standard to meet the needs of wheelchair users.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to require local authorities to assess local need for M4(3) wheelchair user standard homes, stating it does not intend to require this new data collection due to a commitment to reduce burdensome reporting requirements.
Paragraph Reference:
33
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
23. As part of this government’s commitment to resetting the relationship with local government, we want to reduce the level of burdensome reporting requirements on local authorities, and so we do not intend to require this new data collection. 24. This government is committed to putting in place an approach to local government funding which enables local authorities across the country to provide the high-quality services that people rely on every day. The December 2024 provisional Local Government Finance Settlement has provided an additional £69 billion to local authorities in the next financial year, a real-terms increase of 3.5% from 2024–25. Should new burdens be placed onto local authorities, these will of course be assessed and any net additional costs will be fully funded, in accordance with the New Burdens Doctrine. Adapting homes: the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) LUHC Select Committee Report conclusion: The Government-commissioned External Review of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) in 2018 made several appropriate and valuable recommendations on DFG funding, eligibility, and the delivery process, based on comprehensive evidence. It is therefore deeply disappointing that the Government has not published a response to the Review and has not acted upon its main findings, despite prolonged calls for it to do so.